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Christian Schmidt

Aikido teacher, 4th dan aikido

In September 2016, I completed my five-year training course to become an aikido instructor. I would like teach others the aikido I learnt here in the dojo and to give it a new lease of life elsewhere.

I was born in Bayreuth in 1975 and came to Cologne in 2004 when I studied Business Administration. Thanks to a friend and colleague of mine, I came across Dirk Kropp's dojo and, as my training there progressed, found that aikido had an interesting depth to it. The ethics inherent in it fascinated me – as did the respectful conduct of the practitioners in the dojo. The training thus fast became an integral part of my everyday life.

After training regularly for five years, I began an intensive five-year training course in September 2011 to become an aikido instructor. In addition to the daily training, I got to grips with further topics from the fields of philosophy, psychology and spirituality. I also studied other forms of bodywork, such as yoga and Feldenkrais. When I finished my training, I went to Tokyo for a month and trained there in at the Honbu Dojo in the morning class led by Moriteru Ueshiba and other teachers.

In my future dojo, I would like to offer a form of aikido that young and old alike can practise without anybody feeling that too much or too little is being demanded of them.  What I want to do is to establish a meditative kind of training. At the same time, I would like to offer people a framework that will enable them to achieve healthy mobility and to expand their own powers of strength and concentration.